How to Fall for the Wrong Man (Ladies of Passion) Page 12

  Then he shifted, raising himself up on his elbows and bringing his abdomen flush against my swollen clit. With every stroke, I brushed my clit against him. Desire coiled inside me, replacing the ache, the need for more. It grew as I rode him fast and hard. The sound of our skin slapping together was overpowered by our moans and gasps. I needed him. I wanted him. More. More.

  “Oh God, Mary!”

  His hands clenched around my hips, keeping me pinned to him as he thrust himself deep inside me. I was so tight, so close. I rolled my hips, searching for the elusive heaven beckoning just out of reach. My clit brushed against the raspy line of hair trailing from his belly button to his cock. Edwin reached up to tweak my nipple, and I flew apart.

  I tossed my head back. White spots flecked over my vision as I closed my eyes. I moved faster, riding him in hard, quick strokes as I drew out every last ripple of my orgasm. He moaned, moving with me, until the very last spasm wracked my body. I slumped against him, spent.

  His chest hair tickled my nose. He smelled musky with sweat and the deep, sultry scent of sex. I nipped at his nipple.

  “Mary,” he protested, his voice rumbling out in a laugh I felt across every inch of my sated body. He tilted his body to the side, urging me onto the bed beside him. He tucked himself behind me, resting his chin on my head. I shut my eyes.

  The darkness of my eyelids amplified the whispering voices at the door.

  “It sounds like they’re finished. Do you think they’re finished? Perhaps I ought to bring some tea.” Nancy—if she meant not to be heard, she ought to try speaking in a lower whisper.

  Another, more muffled voice answered her. I couldn’t decipher the words.

  My entire body stiffened as I realized the breadth of the Sutton household clamored outside the door. I shoved aside Edwin’s arm and thrashed as I squirmed toward the other edge of the bed. He caught me by the wrist, holding me steady.

  “Where are you going?”

  When I met his gaze, something vulnerable resided in the depths of his eyes. They were the only part of his face that hadn’t turned to sullen stone. I struggled to breathe as panic overwhelmed me.

  “I have to leave. Before they know it’s me in here.”

  A satisfied smile stretched over his face. He retracted his hand, resting it over his well-defined abdomen. The movement only emphasized that he was completely, gloriously naked and stretched out in front of me.

  “Isaac delivered you in here himself.”

  I batted a strand of hair out of my face. This was why I never left my hair free. “I could have left. I come and go in this house all the time.”

  He lifted his eyebrows, his smile spreading into a grin. He was proud of himself, the bounder.

  “I shouted your name. They know it’s you.”

  He liked that they knew I was in here with him. A small, traitorous part of me warmed at knowing he was so proud.

  I balled my fists, squelching that feeling. “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe you have a prostitute in here and you’re pining for me.”

  His smile slipped. As I started to rise, he lunged for me, pulling me down onto the bed and pinning me with his weight. His expression was serious as he loomed over me, capturing my gaze and holding it.

  “Never.” He spat the word with vehemence. “I’d let no other woman in here but you.”

  The intensity of his gaze scared me.

  From the hallway, Nancy muttered, “Maybe I should bring up some cookies. They must be hungry after that. She has quite the sweet tooth.”

  I buried my face in the pillow with a moan. My cheeks flooded with heat. It made the bruise on my left cheek throb with a vengeance.

  “Why don’t you have any privacy?”

  Edwin shrugged. He left me on the bed as he rose, searching the ground for something. “I blame you. You’ve taught my servants odd notions.”

  “I take them all back,” I moaned.

  He grinned and bent to fish the discarded sheet from the floor. He brought it with him as he returned to the bed. He nestled next to me, spreading the sheet over both of us. When I lifted an eyebrow in askance, he shrugged. “You know they’re going to come in eventually.”

  I wished it weren’t so.

  “I should get dressed.” I moved to the nearest edge of the bed.

  Edwin snaked his arm around me and anchored me there with him instead. “Stay,” he begged. “Please?”

  His entire body was tense. Pressed so intimately against him, I felt every stiff muscle. When I didn’t immediately say no, he brushed the hair out of my face, tucking it close to my ear.

  “I’ll send word you’re here, so your household doesn’t worry.”

  Heaven help me, but when he looked at me that way, I didn’t want to leave. I swallowed twice before I managed to say, “I’ll stay.”

  His smile grew, matching mine as I added, “But I get all the cookies.” This easy, warm camaraderie between us reminded me of days long past. Days I’d thought lost forever. When he looked at me like that, I couldn’t help but wonder if losing our wager wouldn’t end in disaster. Perhaps if I did I’d get to keep him, this time.

  Chapter Eleven

  I woke to someone nuzzling my neck. Normally, I considered that a perfectly pleasant way of waking up, but this particular somebody sported prickly stubble that rasped over my skin and made me itch. I turned my head, blinking open my eyes in time to meet Edwin’s gaze.

  He smiled and planted a soft kiss on my lips. “Good morning.”

  “Morning.”

  My voice was gravelly from disuse. I shifted to sit up, but his arm around my waist tightened, holding me still. I rolled onto my back instead. He loomed above me, resting his weight on one elbow.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  He pressed feather-light kisses along my jawline, then worked his way down my neck. “It doesn’t matter,” he said between kisses. “We have nowhere to be.”

  Although true, I didn’t like to lounge around in bed. I opened my mouth to say so, but at that moment, he reached my breasts. He paid lavish attention to each one in turn. My breath gushed out on a moan.

  “Well, if you say so.”

  With a smile that made my stomach flip, he shifted position until he rested on his hands and knees, his big body bracketing me on all sides. Although shadows dripped from the sheet hanging around his shoulders, I made out the silhouette of his thick, erect cock. I arched, hoping to entice him.

  He didn’t need further encouragement. He kissed his way over my stomach to one hip. When he nibbled on a sensitive spot there, I gasped and squirmed. I fisted my hands in his hair. Finally, his long hair turned to my advantage. I spread my legs and urged him lower. Just as he moved to my inner thigh, his stubble inducing shivers as it rasped over my sensitive flesh, the door to the room flung open.

  Edwin lunged up, shielding me with his body. “If the door is closed, it means we want privacy.”

  Nancy, her brow furrowed with concern, didn’t bother supplicating him. Instead, she caught my gaze. “The physician is here to examine your wounds.”

  I groaned.

  Nancy glared. “No arguments, Mary. You’re lucky we didn’t send for one last night, when you arrived.”

  Given the activity Edwin and I had been engaged in—would like to be engaged in now—the intrusion would not have been welcome. I glanced at Edwin, silently beseeching him to send Nancy away. I didn’t need a physician.

  His gaze was fixed on my mouth, his eyes dark. “Give us twenty minutes, then we’ll be down.”

  The physician pronounced me as fine as a fiddle, as I’d known he would. The bruises would heal and the cut on my forehead wasn’t deep. It rendered me less than beautiful, but I didn’t care a whit for feminine beauty.

  At least…I usually didn’t. From the way Edwin stared at me from the corner of his eye as we took his phaeton to Blandford Street for me to change into a dress, I had to wonder if he found me unattractive with the bruises, too. He hadn
’t seemed to mind this morning, but now he wore a surly frown.

  “Edwin?” My voice was small.

  “I trust you’ve learned your lesson.”

  I raised my eyebrows, wincing when the motion pulled on the cut. “I beg your pardon?”

  “About going on these mad hunts alone. I’m going with you, for your own safety.”

  I crossed my arms. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Yes, your face suggests you did splendidly last time.”

  I glowered at him.

  Fortunately, he had enough sense to change the subject. “What have you told your father of our arrangement?”

  I grimaced. “Nothing.”

  He frowned. “Nothing at all? He believes we’re engaged in truth? If so, he must be spitting mad that I never asked his permission.”

  “I don’t need anyone’s permission to get married.”

  Edwin rubbed his chin, then tugged on the reins to steer the horses left. “Perhaps not, but it’s polite to ask.”

  I shrugged and turned to stare at the passing buildings. Here, the stucco-sided townhouses gradually grew plainer in appearance from Edwin’s neighbors. “In any case, he isn’t angry with you. He doesn’t know we’re engaged at all.”

  “You haven’t told him?”

  Truthfully, I hadn’t so much as seen his shadow since I’d signed the contract. Papa worked too late and left too early in the morning. I crossed my arms and leaned back against the squabs. “I didn’t see the sense in doing so if our engagement is temporary. The matter will be rescinded before he learns of it.”

  “It will if you manage to keep the ruse another week.”

  I glared at him. He looked remarkably smug for a man who would shortly have to pay me two thousand pounds. “I’ve done well thus far, haven’t I, Chryssie?” His grimace at the name made me smile.

  “That is the most ridiculous pet name I have ever heard, but yes, you’ve done well enough that we won’t have to marry.” He caught my gaze. “Unless you’ve had a change of heart regarding the wedding.”

  The smile slipped from my face. “Edwin, you can’t be serious. Last night was—”

  “Don’t say a mistake.” His voice was as sharp as his gaze as he looked at me once more. In front of my eyes, he turned into the austere, arrogant lord I hated so much.

  “I didn’t intend to.” I brushed a spec of dirt off my breeches. “But you must admit it was out of character. I don’t know what has changed between us of late—”

  His eyebrows hooked together as he divided his attention between me and the road. “You don’t know? Mary…”

  The look in his eye made my stomach do flips. I cut him off before he said something he might regret. Love, for instance. He’d made it perfectly clear that he considered this an arrangement of convenience, nothing more.

  “It’s temporary. Sooner or later, this—whatever it is—will fade.”

  “Why does the idea of something more lasting terrify you?”

  It doesn’t. If I could trust him not to leave me alone, as everyone eventually did… Even Papa didn’t have time for me of late. He worked himself half to death just to keep food on our table. Perhaps he did it to forget about the anniversary of Mama’s death for a moment or two. There were times when I went out to avoid the memory of visiting her at her sickbed that one last time before illness had claimed her.

  Marry someone who appreciates you for who you are, someone who celebrates you and doesn’t try to change you. You’re so beautiful, baby. I wish I could have seen you happy.

  Those were the last words she had ever spoken to me. I still recalled my tearful response: I’m happy as long as you’re here with me. The memory of her sallow, shrunken skin stretched across her face was one of the clearest memories I still had of her. I didn’t want to remember her that way, but those words stuck with me. Now, they rang particularly loud.

  Did Edwin appreciate me for who I am? Could I be happy, the way Mama had wanted?

  “Mary? Are you all right?”

  Fortunately, I was saved the necessity of answering as the phaeton turned onto Blandford Street. I swallowed the thick lump in my throat and croaked, “We’re here.” I shimmied to the edge of the seat.

  “I know where you live, I’ve been driving all this time. Wait until I stop the horses before you jump out.”

  His tone halted me with my hand on the side of the carriage. Scowling, I tapped my foot and waited until he stopped the conveyance and looped the reins around an ornamental swag in the curved front wall by our feet. The moment the reins were secure, I hopped down the four-foot drop to the street. With a sigh, he followed as I led the way into the house.

  “We can’t leave the horses like that. Do you have someone free to hold them or should I wait for you outside?”

  As I cracked open the front door, Puck’s loud barking overwhelmed all hope of an answer. The sheepdog jumped to plant his paws on my chest and lick my chin. I smiled as I ruffled his shaggy hair. “I missed you too, boy.” He dropped down onto his rump, twirled in a circle, and tried to jump on me again.

  “Enough of that,” Edwin said as he squeezed through the door after me. He pointed to the floor and in his most lordly voice commanded, “Sit.”

  Puck sat, thumping his tail on the ground and grinning to show his spotted tongue.

  “Mary, is that you?”

  At Papa’s voice, I stiffened. Even though it was Sunday, I’d half-expected him not to be home. Wasn’t he usually at church at this time? Granted, I usually accompanied him. I exchanged a worried glance with Edwin.

  Papa exited the sitting room with a worried look that only deepened as he beheld me. The grooves in his forehead and around the tired bags of his eyes looked permanent. “My word, Mary!” He hurried forward, Jane hovering at his heels, to clasp my arm. “What happened?” Stiffening, he turned to Edwin. “When you sent word she was with you, you never mentioned she was injured.”

  “I slipped and fell. It looks worse than it is.” My protest fell on deaf ears, however, because Papa seemed to be awaiting a response from Edwin.

  His face solemn, Edwin gazed down the few inches into Papa’s eyes. “I paid a physician to inspect her this morning. He assured that there will be no lasting damage. Mary, don’t you wish to change clothes?”

  I scowled at his pointed look. “Very well. I’ll be down in a moment. Jane, would you mind looking after the horses while I’m away?”

  The maid nodded. She curtsied to Edwin before slipping past him onto the walkway.

  The moment she left, I added to Edwin, “Puck’s leash is hanging by the door.”

  He frowned. “I thought we were riding through Hyde Park.”

  “Isn’t the point to see and be seen? We can do that just as well while on a walk with Puck.” Having made my point, I started up the stairs.

  Edwin sighed. “Very well, we’ll bring the dog. Don’t tarry. I’ll wait here with your father a moment.”

  I faltered in mid-step, halfway up the staircase. When I glanced down, I found Edwin watching me, perhaps waiting for me to disappear. Our earlier conversation circled my head. He couldn’t mean to ask Papa for my hand in marriage, could he? No, that would be ludicrous. I didn’t intend to lose our wager, even if I’d considered it in a moment of insanity last night. If Edwin wanted a marriage filled with love, respect, and passion…

  He’d made it perfectly clear when he’d set out that he did not. He wanted the kind of wife he could abandon on a country estate and never think of again. Convenient was not a word that had ever described me.

  I hurried to dress in clothes befitting his fiancée and return downstairs.

  “Ho, Sutton!”

  I wrapped my hand around Puck’s leash as the woman’s voice pierced the air. By now, I had come to recognize that cheerful voice. Winifred Craven. And, as I turned my head to spot her, I discovered she had brought her husband and the rest of the family. All four were wedged into the seat of a lofty phaeton. Winifred, seated
in the middle between Annabel and her husband, waved her handkerchief.

  Holding Puck steady, I hissed at Edwin. “You didn’t tell me your friends meant to be here today.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “If we had been in my phaeton, perhaps they wouldn’t have noticed us.”

  I patted my cheeks with my free hand. I’d slathered cosmetics onto my cheeks and forehead to hide the bruises I’d earned yesterday. My handiwork held up from a distance, but would it be noticeable upon close inspection? With the sudden appearance of Edwin’s friends, self-consciousness nagged me. I had to act ladylike and in love for his friends, a challenge on the best of days. Although I had no lasting damage, my face throbbed beneath the powder I’d layered on.

  As they pulled alongside us, Edwin smiled. “So good to see you. Would you like to walk with us?”

  I’d expected the question but inwardly sighed nevertheless. Fortunately, handling Puck gave me an excuse to hang back as Edwin stepped up to greet the Craven brothers and help their wives from the conveyance. I dug in my heels as the sheepdog strained against his leash, trying to greet them as well.

  “Puck, calm down.”

  He didn’t listen to me. Males rarely did.

  Annabel turned to me, a big smile on her face. “What a cute dog! Is he friendly?”

  “Too friendly,” I answered, out of breath.

  Sensing that we were talking about him, Puck barked happily. The collar around his neck seemed like a minor inconvenience, even with the bulk of my weight pulling on the leash. He barely noticed as he gained ground inch by inch.

  With a laugh, Annabel towed her husband closer to greet the sheepdog. He caught the dog’s weight as Puck jumped up to greet them. She scratched his face and neck as Winifred appeared on the dog’s other side to give him more attention. Wincing at the leash digging into my hand, I relinquished my hold on him. The moment I stepped forward and the leash slackened, my hand started to throb. I unwound the lead digging into my flesh.

  Edwin appeared at my side, taking the lead from my hand. “Allow me. I’ll be able to restrain him more effectively.” He proved as much with a stern word as he detached Puck from his friends. He forced the dog to sit.